Reforming health care reform

Because House Democrats don’t have the 216 votes required to pass the Senate health care reform bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi may resort to a procedure known as “deem and pass” to get the measure to President Obama’s desk.

The tactic — known as a “self-executing rule” essentially gives political cover to Democrats who are vulnerable in their reelection bids or who don’t like the Senate bill, which is laden with controversial provisions that House Democrats don’t support.

(AP Photo/Jeff Curry)

Using the rule allows Democrats to avoid voting directly on the Senate bill. They would vote only on the fixes, which include eliminating deals that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave lawmakers to get the bill passed. The rule says the House “deems” the Senate bill passed after the House passes the fixes. The bill would then go to President Obama for signature. However, the Senate would still have to approve the measures that directly affect the budget.

Republicans, who have opposed every reform measure approved by Democrats – even those that include GOP-backed proposals – naturally are crying foul, with some conservatives even labeling the tactic unconstitutional.

However, since 2005 both parties have used deem and pass a total of 85 times to pass legislation. We’d rather see a straight up and down vote by a Congress that has the backbone to do what’s in the best interest of the country rather than what’s in their best interest politically. However, procedural rules such as the filibuster that allows Republicans literally to talk to death health reform is the reason the Senate bill became so messy in the first place. To get the 60 votes needed to bypass the filibuster, Sen. Reid felt he had to make those deals.

The political reality is that deem and pass may be the only way to effect reform. To move forward, the House must pass the Senate bill because Democrats no longer have their 60-vote majority to block the filibuster. The cost of doing nothing is too great.

Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, called use of the self-executing rule “very painful and troubling.” However, he had no problem with the rule when the House employed it in 2005 to pass a bill he sponsored that required an employment verification system to screen out illegal immigrants.

The bottom line is the country needs health care reform. Republicans have done everything they can to block it. Democrats must do everything they can to move it forward.